A day exploring Notting Hill

I’ve been dying to go to Notting Hill for a while, so finally planning a day trip to explore was very exciting. Just a short tube journey from Victoria and we arrived amongst the beautiful, picturesque houses and side street mews.

We didn’t have too much of a set agenda for the day other than wandering till we were lost and sourcing delicious food along the way. Every which way you look there’s something else to take pictures of; cute independent stores, the infamous Portobello Markets, pastel coloured houses as far as the eyes can see and floral displays in all directions. It was also really nice for most people around us to have camera’s in hand taking lots of pictures and exploring the sights.

It was really nice to see a part of London I’d never been before. We found the iconic Notting Hill Book Shop on Blenheim Crescent, it was the most quaint little store with books piled high to the ceiling, unusually designed book covers to admire and postcards to commemorate the visit. I don’t know about you but seeing something from a well-known film come to life gives me such a thrill!

We also, by chance, fell on the house featured in one of my favourite films – Love Actually. You know THAT scene with Kiera Knightly and the ‘carol singers’ which are really a heartfelt message on big A3 boards. It was flipping adorable (even though it was having some building work done) of course baby pink, with greenery and white/pastel flowers. (St Luke’s Mews)

At this point we were both dying for caffeine and a sweet snack so we popped into Farm Girl – one of the ‘blogger hot spots’. We wanted to see if it was worth the hype or just an instagramable fad. I kind of wanted to dislike it, but I can’t, it’s worth the hype. We sat outside in the sunshine; one chai latte, one cappuccino and a brownie to share. The latte art is on another level to anything I’ve had before. My latte had a French bulldog on! The brownie, oh my fucking god, this was THE best brownie ever – crisp on the edges but gooey goodness on the inside. My mouth’s watering just thinking about it… Farm Girl please send more.

We then took another walk through Notting Hill and along to Westfield shopping centre where we’d arranged to have lunch at Byron Burgers. Yes, I know more food! But this was part of a ‘working’ lunch as Georgia was doing a job with them – I was just there for the ride, any excuse to try some food, you can count me in! I opted for the classic cheese burger, Georgia had the vegan burger and we shared a portion of fries. It was all incredibly delicious and I really loved the design there.

We couldn’t exactly leave a shopping centre without popping into a few stores, so after a brief browse we jumped on the tube back to Notting Hill. We wanted to find the Wild at Heart florist so walked along to Westbourne Grove. It was really beautiful, and live up to my Instagram expectations.

After some more exploring we felt it was time for another snack before heading back to Victoria to get the train home. We knew there was a Doughnut Time next to the Notting Hill Book Shop we’d visited earlier so wandered back that way. We both chose a biscoff doughnut which had coffee icing and biscoff crème – holy crap it was good – but HUGE, I had to share half once I’d got home.

After an entire day of walking, exploring, eating and shooting content I was absolutely ready for my bed. I jumped into a hot bubble bath with a cup of tea and fell into bed with my eyes already half shut. I would definitely recommend paying Notting Hill a visit if you’re in London any time soon. It was absolutely stunning and has so much to offer that lots of other areas in London don’t. I’m really excited to go back into London next weekend and explore some more areas. I’d love to hear your recommendations!